A common claim among high-achievers: success is not linear. Jobs, Ackman, and others struggled for years before any visible win.
But the path is linear when the proper axis is measured. These people never stopped working on proof - of effort, competence, adaptability, discernment - long before wins materialise to others.
Internal proof, often intangible, makes greatness. And most “overnight success” has been worked for years.
What is proof and why it matters
Proof is lived experience that expands your belief in what’s possible. And the only way to grow sustainably is to build, use and compound those that matter for your definition of success. This is why the strongest engine of success is proof you build and see for yourself.
Proofs raise the ceiling of your potential across domains; they’re often transferrable because they can be related not only to content but also to the form, how something is handled. Effort and adaptability, for example, are universal once you’ve internalised their underlying mechanisms. That matters because you won’t always be able to steer what you work on: still, on these occasions building proofs is your advantage.
Creating proof internally, rather than externally, is far more valuable for growth. What you see in yourself matters more than what others see about you, and many times people won’t be able to see what these proofs look like. And that does not matter.
Granted, having credentials more easily gets you into some rooms - people will treat you differently. But that impact is capped. External proofs are weak linkages. If your strength does not come from inside, there is no substance to back it up.
The biggest hurdles do not really exist outside your mind. Who you really need to convince at the end of the day, while going through your toughest challenges in life, is yourself.
And, while you can bypass them and overcome limitations with the power of words, faith, and will, the strongest convictions come from lived experience.
Taking steps and reaching proofs of your capacity is a stronger bridge towards growth.
What proofs can look like
Around 15, after a long break in swimming, I became obsessed with competing again. Going 6, sometimes 7 days a week to the swimming pool. Many times, there was only me, the strokes and the water. Proof of effort: this was one of the things I learned from sports.
I delivered effort consistently for about 2 years. The point is that the long-term direction and daily execution built evidence: I could tackle and endure pain for long, and hard work paid off. Those proofs held me through engineering school. From there, proof of competence was built. Being able to understand complex topics under tight deadlines, turnaround situations that felt impossible to win.
Rewinding back, from a young age I have moved locations. Over time this built proof I could withstand and thrive in changing environments. That I could adapt, which has pushed me forward and helped me progress later on many occasions.
Proofs compound, stack, and merge leading to next steps.
In client-facing, business-related roles I built evidence that I could use my ability to be a good listener to discern what people were facing, recommend and create solutions from there. By working on data-heavy, analytical tasks, I proved I could execute technically on solutions that required higher abstraction and hands-on work in that area.
Merging those commercial and technical proofs pushed me to build products that drew on both. That led to the proof that mattered most: people told me they’d waited long for a solution that was finally here. Internal evidence of discernment: seeing and building products people need.
I believe one effective way of building the proof is going after something you are engaged with, perhaps obsessed about, at that point in life.
That does not mean that they must be always pleasant - moving locations was not initially pleasant as a kid, neither were swimming workouts in cold weather - but in those situations, in my mind I saw no other option but to face them.
This very essay is part of a proof of consistency, of the ability to develop valuable ideas and communicate them clearly. And honestly, it does not feel easy: that’s the point.
When you are in the grind, even for things you choose, maintaining yourself engaged and finding the value you can get from that circumstance is what will ensure you arrive at the proof.
Self-awareness, recognition, and direction
Mismatches between proof building and recognition are setbacks. If you overlook the proofs you build, over time you bypass the materialisation of their real potential. And these mismatches can happen for different reasons.
Proofs originate from a context, but are not limited to it. A way to recognise them is thinking about the valuable things you achieved from other areas that help you in your current challenges. Evidence of competence in broad terms forming stepping stones is not domain-restricted, as long as you reflect and unfold the value from it.
A second point is that they’re not always apparent, because they’re not externally verifiable. Therefore, you must be confident enough to recognise when an intangible proof is built, self-aware enough to turn inwards and find your inner evidenced strengths, and also humble enough to discard internally weak proofs - so as not to rely on weak foundations, but instead build strong ground for what matters.
Importantly, evidence may also fade with time. At times, other proofs overwrite the previous ones and that needs correction, but many times they just need reminding. Once you prove something, it might start to feel small, uncorrelated, irrelevant over time. Realising the value from the work you’ve put in the past is powerful and the reason why you need to perform broader reflections from time to time.
So compounding proofs comes from creating them, but also having the proper mental space to reflect, recognise and stack or merge the proofs in the way that they become the mental stair towards your next step.
In a world that puts external milestones in the spotlight.
What is the axis you measure success with?
Do you optimise for proofs that expand your ceiling?
And do you recognise that what and how you built are supporting you on the next move?
Compound what takes you further.